Pentecostalism

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Pentecostal can also mean "pertaining to Pentecost".

Pentecostalism is a movement within Evangelical Christianity that places special emphasis on the direct personal experience of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as shown in the Biblical account of the Day of Pentecost. Although the day was historically derived from the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, the account found in the New Testament book of Acts revolutionized the meaning of Pentecost. This account has served as the basis for the Pentecostal movement.

"On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability." — Acts 2:1-11

One of Christianity's most idiosyncratic group, Pentecostals are distinguished by their unique belief that an individual can serve as a conduit for supernatural gifts endowed by the Holy Spirit, gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy and faith healing.

Although similar to the Charismatic movement, Pentecostalism developed much earlier and separated from the mainstream church. Charismatic Christians, at least in the early days of the movement, tended to remain in their respective denominations.

Albeit many Pentecostal churches are independent, the largest Pentecostal denomination in existence today is the Assemblies of God with a membership of about 51 million worldwide.

Beliefs

Pentecostals are a unique group of Christians who subscribe to the belief that the baptism of the Holy Spirit, indicative of the apostles' experience in the book of Acts, is necessary for Christian growth and empowerment. To wit, for many it is one of the key steps in Christian conversion.

Just as important is water baptism, an essential act following one's decision to commit oneself to Christ. Pentecostal water baptism is characterized by a public ceremony where an individual undergoes complete immersion in a body of water. This is separate from the baptism in the Holy Ghost, which is a distinct spiritual experience that all who have belief in Jesus should receive.

As it is with many Christians, Pentecostals believe that one must be saved by believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of sins. But, not as common among believers is the Classical Pentecostal assertion that the initial sign of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. While this is a major point of contention for Christians of other denominations, many large Pentecostal denominations have rejected any connection between personal salvation and the baptism in the Holy Ghost. They teach that it is not necessary for salvation, but a gift from God available to all Christians regardless of denominational affiliation.

Currently, there are two basic streams of Pentecostal churches. The first group has become widely known as of "Jesus Name," or "Oneness" Pentecostals. This group adheres strictly to the text found in Acts 2:38 that believers should repent and be baptized in Jesus' name only, then they will receive the Holy Spirit. The more widespread group, however, is the Trinitarian sect, which upholds the proposal that that the one, true God is comprised of three co-divine, co-equal persons — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Although both Oneness and Trinitarian denominations acknowledge the God of the Bible as the only God in existence, and that Jesus was born, died, and resurrected, Oneness doctrine differs from mainstream Christian denominations in that the traditional concept of the Trinity is rejected as an inadequate and inaccurate description of God. The world's largest Pentecostal denomination, the Assemblies of God, holds to the belief in Trinitarian theology — that God is manifested in three distinct beings.

A nuance of Pentecostalism that has had a profound effect on Protestant worship overall is the hyper-emotionalism in worship and prayer. Pentecostals are known for raising their hands while singing, praying aloud in a fervent manner and jubilantly running through the aisles during church services. They tend to be very vocal and expressive in their prayers, with cries of "Yes, Lord!," "Thank you, Jesus!," "Hallelujah!" and other spontaneous expressions of praise.

Many early Pentecostals believed that the revival of the gifts of the Spirit were a sign from God of the latter rain, a period of restoration before the end of the age and the coming millenial reign of Christ. Traditional Protestants believe that one is baptized with or in the Holy Spirit upon regeneration, the work of the Holy Spirit that enables faith and belief in the unbelieving heart. Pentecostals would not deny that regeneration is an activity of the Holy Ghost or that it results in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Instead, they distinguish this indwelling from a subsequent, more intense relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Theology

Theologically, most Pentecostal denominations are aligned with Evangelicalism in that they emphasize the reliability of the Bible and the need for the transformation of an individual's life with faith in Jesus. Pentecostals also adhere to the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy. Pentecostals differ from fundamentalists by placing less emphasis on personal spiritual experience and more emphasis on the Holy Ghost's work within a person than other Protestants.

Dr. Jackie David Johns, in his work on Pentecostal formational leadership, states that the Scriptures hold a special place in the Pentecostal world view because the Holy Ghost is always active in the Bible. For him, to encounter the Scriptures is to encounter God. For the Pentecostal, the Scriptures are a primary reference point for communion with God and a template for reading the world.

Unlike most other Christians, some Pentecostals believe that there is a second work of the Holy Ghost, in which the Holy Ghost dwells more fully in them, and which opens a believer up to a closer fellowship with God, empowering them for Christian service. Other Pentecostals believe that Holy Ghost baptism is the actual event of the Holy Ghost taking up residence in the believer's heart rather than a "fuller dwelling" or "second filling."

Pentecostals vary in their beliefs of the types of glossolalia (1 Cor. 12:28). The following are some possible distinctions. First, there is the evidence at the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is when a believer speaks in tongues when they are baptized by the Holy Ghost. This may or may not be the only time an individual ever speaks in tongues. Secondly, there is the gift of tongues. This is when a person is moved by God to speak in tongues during a church service or other Christian gathering for everyone to hear. The gift of tongues may be exercised anywhere; but many denominations believe that it must only be exercised when a person who has the gift of "interpretation of tongues" is present (whether that be another person or the one who gives the tongue). The interpreter may interpret the tongue into the language of the gathered Christians so that they can understand the message (1 Cor. 14:13, 27-28).

Critics charge that Pentecostal doctrine does not mesh well with what they believe to be Paul's criticism of the early Corinthian church for their obsession with speaking in tongues. It is argued that Paul stated that speaking in tongues is only one of the gifts of the Spirit and is not gifted to all (1 Cor. 12:12-31). However, the recognition of different types of tongues more accurately represents the entirety of the biblical account. For example, the tongues of Spirit baptism are mentioned in Acts 2:38-9 and Acts 10:44-46, the gift of tongues is discussed in 1 Cor. 12:10 and 1 Cor. 14:5, and tongues as a prayer language in 1 Cor. 14:14-15.

A trait that also most often distinguishes Pentecostals, and many Charismatics, from other Evangelical Christians is their openness to new prophecy. Although identified as one of the gifts of the Spirit, most Protestants generally believe that Christian prophecy ended sometime shortly after the apostolic age. It is not uncommon for today's Pentecostal church leaders and even congregants to use this gift within the context of a church service to exhort a fellow brother or sister.

Church services are often punctuated with prophetical messages in addition to acts of speaking in tongues, interpretations of tongues with prophetic underpinnings and the laying of hands for the purposes of healing, sometimes with the use of oil. Anointing with oil, as in the early Christian church, is a practice in Pentecostal churches performed during the consecration or ordination of pastors and elders in addition to healing the sick.

The word "anointing" is also frequently used by Pentecostal Christians to refer to the power of God or the Spirit of God residing in a Christian — a usage that occurs from time to time in the Bible. A particularly popular expression is "the anointing that breaks the yoke," which is derived from Isaiah 10:27.

"And it shall come to pass on that day, that his burden shall be removed from upon your shoulder, and his yoke from upon your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of oil."

The aforementioned events, which Pentecostals profess are led by the Spirit, can happen spontaneously during normal service with no forewarning, by direct guidance from the leader of the service, or more often at massive altar calls where the entire congregation is encouraged to come and pray together for various purposes at the altar.

History

Pentecostalism traces its original roots to the day of Pentecost when a week after Jesus ascended into Heaven, there were 120 believers waiting for the promise of the Father in the form of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:4, when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers they all spoke in tongues (other languages).

Throughout the last 2000 years there have been many references to the in-filling of the Holy Spirit and outward sign of glossolalia (speaking in tongues).

The Holiness movement was the first to begin making numerous references to the term "Pentecostal," such as in 1867 when the movement established The National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Christian Holiness with a notice that said: [We are summoning,] irrespective of denominational tie...those who feel themselves comparatively isolated in their profession of holiness…that all would realize together a Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Ghost....

Around 1901, Pentecostalism was given a public platform when Agnes Ozman received the gift of tongues (glossolalia) during a prayer meeting at Charles Fox Parham's Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas in 1901. Parham, a minister of Methodist background, formulated the doctrine that tongues was the "Bible evidence" of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Parham later left Topeka and began a revival meeting ministry.

Although many instances of glossolalia occurred prior to 1906, The Azusa Street Revival led by William J. Seymour is the watershed of the Pentecostal movement in the U.S. and worldwide. It began on April 9, 1906, in Los Angeles, California, at the home of Edward Lee, who claimed the infilling of the Holy Spirit. William J. Seymour claimed that he was overcome with the Holy Ghost on April 12, 1906. On April 18, 1906, the Los Angeles Times ran a front page story on the revival, "Weird Babel of Tongues, New Sect of fanatics is breaking loose, Wild scene last night on Azusa Street, gurgle of wordless talk by a sister". By the third week in April, 1906, the small but growing congregation rented an abandoned African Methodist Episcopal Church at 312 Azusa Street and subsequently became organized as the Apostolic Faith Mission. Almost all mainline Pentecostal denominations today trace their historical roots to the Azusa Street Revival.

Pentecostalism, like any other major movement, has given birth to a large number of organizations, denominations, churches, sects, para-churches, separatists and even cults with political, social or theological differences. The movement's inception was counter-cultural to the social and political norms of society. Record numbers of African-American men and women, both Black and white were initial leaders. As the Azusa Revival began to wane, doctrinal differences began to surface as well as the pressure from social, cultural and political events of the time. As a result, isolationism, sectarianism and even the increase of extremism were apparent. Not wishing to affiliate with the Assemblies of God, formed in 1914, a group of ministers from predominantly white churches formed the Pentecostal Church of God in Chicago, Illinois in 1919. George Went Hensley, a preacher who had left the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennesee when it finally ceased the practice of snake handling, is credited with creating the first church dedicated to this extreme practice in the 1920s. This became widely practiced in poor, rural areas of the Appalachians. In urban African-American communities of the 1940s, there were Father Divine with his Peace Mission and Daddy Grace, both claiming divinity, encouraging their followers to practice the aesceticism of Pentecostalism.

The integration of African-Americans and women into the Pentecostal church prompted a major paradigm shift in American Christendom. The Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee, prior to the split in 1923, made significant inroads across racial divides, with missionary ministry to the Bahamas and elsewhere. After the 1923 divide, the bulk of the black membership followed Overseer A.J. Tomlinson into the Church of God of Prophecy. Another watershed within the Pentecostal movement is the MEMPHIS MIRACLE, a meeting by Anglo Pentecostal leaders and African-American Pentecostal leaders. This unification occurred in 1998 in Memphis, Tennessee at the headquarters of the largest African-American Pentecostal body, the Church of God in Christ. The unification of Anglo and African-American leaders led to the restructuring of the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America to become the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America.

In the last part of the 20th Century the Word of Faith movement, the Toronto Blessing and the Brownsville movement became some of the better known splinter groups who have appropriated the mantle of Pentecostalism to lend credence to the more extreme, non-traditional practices in the movement. These include the practice of divine laughter, Dominionism, ecstatic barking, Creative Visualization, Fetishism, and making Seed Money donations in order to yield divine reward.

In the United Kingdom, the first Pentecostal church to be formed was the Apostolic Church. This was later followed by the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance, later to be known as the Elim Pentecostal Church, founded in 1914 by George Jeffreys.

From the late 1950s onwards, the Charismatic movement, which was to a large extent inspired and influenced by Pentecostalism, began to flourish in the mainline Protestant denominations, as well as the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, fostered in Britain by organizations such as the Fountain Trust, founded by Michael Harper in 1964. Unlike "Classical Pentecostals," who formed strictly Pentecostal congregations or denominations, Charismatics adopted as their motto, "Bloom where God planted you."

In Sweden, the first Pentecostal church was Filadelfiaförsamlingen in Stockholm. Pastored by Lewi Pethrus, this congregation, originally Baptist, was expelled from the Baptist Union of Sweden in 1913 for doctrinal differences. Today this congregation has about 7000 members and is the biggest Pentecostal congregation in northern Europe. As of 2005, the Swedish pentecostal movement has approximately 90,000 members in nearly 500 congregations. These congregations are all independent but cooperate on a large scale. Swedish Pentecostals have been very missionary-minded and have established churches in many countries. In Brazil, for example, churches founded by the Swedish Pentecostal mission claim several million members.

The history of Pentecostalism in Australia has been documented by Dr Barry Chant in Heart of Fire (1984, Adelaide: Tabor).

The most significant and controversial is his link to the Azusa Street Revival conducted by his student, the African-American, William J. Seymour. Parham taught W.J. Seymour in his school in Houston, Texas. Since W.J. Seymour was African-American, he was only allowed to sit outside the room to listen to Parham.

This racial separation was deeply influenced by the social, national and political structures of the time. The Supreme Court, in the landmark decision, Plessy vs Ferguson in 1896, legalized racial segregation throughout the United States and ended Reconstruction. This national political influence resulted in an "achilles heel" for the early Pentecostal movement in the U.S. and long-term impact concerning racial unity, equality and doctrinal nuances. For example, many African-American Pentecostal leaders maintained close ties with their African-American Holiness leaders. In fact, the Trinitarian-Oneness division within the Assemblies of God had little or no impact on many African-American Trinitarian Pentecostal churches who maintained cordial relationships with newly organized African-American Oneness organizations.

Pentecostal denominations and adherents

Estimated numbers of Pentecostals vary widely. Christianity Today reported in an article titled World Growth at 19 Million a Year that according to historian Vinson Synan, dean of the Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia Beach, about 25 percent of the world's Christians are Pentecostal or charismatic.

The largest Pentecostal denominations in the United States are the Assemblies of God, the Church of God in Christ, New Testament Church, Church of God (Cleveland), Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the United Pentecostal Church. According to a Spring 1998 article in Christian History, there are about 11,000 different Pentecostal or charismatic denominations worldwide.

The size of Pentecostalism in the U.S. is estimated to be more than 20 million including approximately 918,000 (4%) of the Hispanic-American population, counting all unaffiliated congregations, although the numbers are uncertain, in part because some tenets of Pentecostalism are held by members of non-Pentecostal denominations in what has been called the charismatic movement. Toronto Canada, has a large Pentecostal population. The influence of immigrants from Jamaica, Africa, Latin America, Korea and basically everywhere, have created diverse churches throughout the city.

In Australia, Hillsong is the largest church with a membership exceeding 19,000. Many of their songs are sung around the world.

Pentecostalism was estimated to number around 115 million followers worldwide in 2000; lower estimates place the figure near to 22 million (eg. Cambridge Encyclopedia), while the highest estimates apparently place the figure between 400 and 600 million. The great majority of Pentecostals are to be found in Developing Countries (see the Statistics subsection below), although much of their international leadership is still North American. Pentecostalism is sometimes referred to as the "third force of Christianity." The largest Pentecostal Christian church in the world is the Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea. Founded and led by David Yonggi Cho since 1958, it had 780,000 members in 2003.

According to Christianity Today, Pentecostalism is "a vibrant faith among the poor; it reaches into the daily lives of believers, offering not only hope but a new way of living." [1]. In addition, according to a 1999 U.N. report, "Pentecostal churches have been the most successful at recruiting its members from the poorest of the poor." Brazilian Pentecostals talk of Jesus as someone real and personal, providing them essentials like food and shelter.

Outside the English speaking world

Pentecostal and charismatic church growth is rapid in many parts of the world. Missions expert David Barrett estimated in a Christianity Today article that the Pentecostal and charismatic church is growing by 19 million per year.

Jeffrey K. Hadden at the Department of Sociology at the University of Virginia collected statistics from the various large pentecostal organizations and from the work by David Stoll (David Stoll, "Is Latin American Turning Protestant?" published Berkeley: University of California Press. 1990) demonstrating that the Pentecostals are experiencing very rapid growth as can be seen on his website. In Myanmar, the Assemblies of God of Myanmar is one of the largest Christian denominations. The pentecostal churches Igreja do Evangelho Completo de Deus, Assembleias de Deus, Igrejas de Cristo and the Assembleias Evangelicas de Deus Pentecostales are among the largest denominations of Mozambique.

According to last census in Brazil 25% are protestants, most of them are pentecostals or charismatics (Eg. Assemblies of God, Christian Congregation of Brazil, Foursquare Gospel, Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Charismatics Baptists) the biggest denomination are the Assemblies of God (Assembléia de Deus) - about 10 million members.

Among the Indian charismatic denominations are Apostolic Church of Pentecost, Apostolic Pentecostal Church, Assemblies of Christ Church, Assemblies of God, Bible Pattern Church, Church of God (Full Gospel) in India, Church of God of Prophecy, Church of the Apostolic Faith, Elim Church, Nagaland Christian Revival Church, New Life Fellowship, The Pentecostal Mission (New Testament Church), Open Bible Church of God, Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church, Pentecostal Holiness Church, Pentecostal Mission,United Pentecostal Church in India, India Pentecostal Church of God, Sharon Fellowship Church, Kerala, India (Founded by Pr. Thomachayan) has planted numerous Churches throughout the world.

Statistics

See List of Christian denominations by number of members. The list indicates there may be 150 million Pentecostals with the largest Pentecostal denominations (claiming 2 million or more adherents) being:

Denomination Statistics

• Assemblies of God - 51 million
• Independent - 50 million
• Church of God in Christ - 9 million
• The Apostolic Church - 6 million
• The Pentecostal Mission -6.7 million
• Church of God (Cleveland) - 5 million
• United Pentecostal Church International - 4 million
• Christ Apostolic Church - 2.8 million
• Christian Congregation of Brazil- 2.5 million
• Zion Christian Church - 2.5 million
• Church of the Lord Aladura - 2.5 million
• International Church of the Foursquare Gospel 2 million
• Universal Church of the Kingdom of God - 2 million
• Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada - 1 million
• Christian Outreach Centre - less than 1 million
• Christian City Church = less than 1 million
• World Christian Ministries Association - less than 1 million

While not as large as some of the above organizations the following have made quite an impact on Pentecostalism:

• Northgate Pentecostals (Dallas - Fort Worth, Texas, USA [Colleyville, TX 76034])

• Church of Jesus Christ of Prophecy (AKA Mercy Tabernacle, Benton Tennessee)

• International Church of Jesus Christ (Columbus, Ohio)

• Potter's House Christian Fellowship (Prescott, Arizona)

• Apostolic Brethren (Columbus, Ohio)

• United Christian Church (Cleveland, Tennessee)

• Igreja Pentecostal e Apostólica Missão Jesus (São Paulo, Brazil)

• Revival Centres International and The Revival Fellowship in Australia

Geographical distribution

• Africa: 41.1 million
  • Nigeria: 13.0 million (34.5 million [2]; 41.0 million [3])
  • Kenya: 4.1 million (18.94 million [4])
  • South Africa: 4.4 million (15.1 million [5])
  • Ethiopia: 2.6 million
  • Ghana: 1.76 million
  • Togo: 0.05 million
• America: 58.9 million
  • United States: Total of: 30 million; 20.2 million (30.0 million [6]; 80.0 million including Charismatics and Neo-charismatics [7])
  • Brazil: 15.0 million (20-90 million [8]; 84 million [9])
  • Argentina: 3.5 million
  • Mexico: 2.7 million
  • Guatemala: 2.0 million (7.2 million [10])
  • Chile: 1.8 million (4.8 million [11])
  • Canada: 1.3 million
  • Haiti: 0.325 million [12]
  • Barbados: 0.022 million
• Asia: 15.3 million
  • South Korea: 5.35 million [13] (8.75 million [14])
  • China: unknown; 72.0 million [15]
  • Philippines: 9.0 million (38.65 million [16]; 25.0 million [17])
  • Indonesia: 7.0 million
  • India: Total of: 54 million; 5.2 million (54.0 million [18]; 38.0 million [19])
  • Pakistan: 0.25 million
• Europe: 9.5-11.0 million
  • England: 0.9-1.7 million
  • Ukraine: 1.2-1.5 million
  • Russia: 1.0 million
  • Italy: 0.55 million
  • Romania: 0.33 million [20]
  • Germany: 0.3 million [21]
  • Spain: 0.28 million
  • France: 0.2-0.3 million
  • Netherlands: 0.15 millions [22]
  • Belorussia: 0.15 million [23]
  • Bulgaria: 0.11 million [24]
  • Hungary: 0.11 million
  • Switzerland: 0.1 million
  • Sweden: 0.1 million
  • Norway: 0.045 million (source: Statistics Norway 2004)
  • Finland: 0.045 million (source: Wikipedia in Finnish and Seurakuntaopas 2006) (with charismatics 0.35 million}
  • Greece: 0.03 million
  • Estonia: 0.015-0.02 million
  • Austria: 0.005 million
• Oceania: 3.3 million
  • Papua New Guinea: 0.4 million
  • Australia: 0.4 million
  • New Zealand: 0.11 million

• Source: Operation World by Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, 2000, unless otherwise indicated.
• [25]
• Statistics on pentecostal renewalists
• World Christian Database

Leaders

Precursors

• William Boardman
• John Alexander Dowie (1848-1907)
• Edward Irving
• Albert Benjamin Simpson (1843-1919)

Early history

• Maria Woodworth-Etter (1844 - 1924)
• Smith Wigglesworth (1859 - 1947)
• Charles Fox Parham (1873 - 1929) Father of Modern Pentecostalism
• William J. Seymour (1870 - 1922) Azusa Street Mission Founder (Azusa Street Revival)
• Bishop R.A.R. Johnson (1876 -1940) Founder of the House of God, Holy Church of the Living God, The Pillar and the Ground of the Truth, The House of Prayer for All People. A Commandment (Sabbath) keeping Pentecostal organization.
• George Jeffreys (1889 - 1972) Founder of the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance and the Bible-Pattern Church Fellowship in Britain
• Aimee Semple McPherson (1890 - 1944) American Female Evangelist and organizer of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
• Joseph Ayo Babalola (1904 - 1959) Oke - Ooye, Ilesa revivalist in 1930. Also, spiritual founder of Christ Apostolic Church
• David du Plessis (1905 - 1987) South-African Pentecostal church leader, one of the founders of the Charismatic movement
• Kathryn Kuhlman (1907 - 1976) American female evangelist who brought Pentecostalism into the mainstream denominations
• William M. Branham (1909 - 1965) Healing Evangelists of the mid 20th century
• Jack Coe (1918 - 1956) Healing Tent Evangelist of the 1950s
• A. A. Allen (1911 - 1970) Healing Tent Evangelist of the 1950s and 1960s
• Oral Roberts (b.1918) Healing Tent Evangelist who made the transition to televangelism
• Rex Humbard (b.1919) The first successful TV evangelist of the mid 1950s, 1960s, and the 1970s and at one time had the largest television audience of any televangelist in the U.S.

Theologians

Pentecostal theologians are listed in the article Renewal Theologians.

See also

• Apostolic Church
• Apostolic Faith Mission
• Bible-Pattern Church Fellowship
• British Israelism
• Charismatic
• Christ Apostolic Church
• Christian Right
• Christian views of women
• Elim Pentecostal Church
• Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost
• Full Gospel
• History of Church activities in Zambia
• List of Pentecostal Denominations
• Montanism
• Neocharismatic
• Oneness Pentecostalism
• Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
• Pentecostal Charismatic Peace Fellowship
• Pentecostal World Fellowship
• Religious pluralism
• Prophecy
• Left Behind Series
• Summary of Christian eschatological differences

Studies

• Paul Alexander, (2000), "An Analysis of the Emergence and Decline of Pacifism in the History of the Assemblies of God," PhD Dissertation, Baylor University.
• Grant Wacker, (2001), Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA - An academic history of early Pentecostalism.
• Walter Hollenweger, (1972), The Pentecostals: the charismatic movement in the churches, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, ISBN 0-8066-1210-X
• Walter Hollenweger, , (1997), Pentecostalism : origins and developments worldwide, Peabody, Mass. : Hendrickson Publishers, ISBN 0-943575-36-2
• Clifton, S. J., (2005), An Analysis of the Developing Ecclesiology of the Assemblies of God in Australia, PhD thesis Australian Catholic University
• Matthew Steel, (2005), Pentecostalism in Zambia : Power, Authority and the Overcomers, MSc Dissertation - an examination of the growth and effects of of Pentecostalism on development, University of Wales
• Pentecostalism losing its youth? [26]

Academic - Centres and Journals

• Journal of Pentecostal Theology is published by SAGE publications. The editorial board is comprised of members of the Church of God Theological Seminary faculty.
• The REFLEKS journal is published by REFLEKS-Publishing in Oslo, Norway and contains scholarly Scandinavian and English articles on Pentecostalism and neo-Pentecostalism.
• Encounter: Journal for Pentecostal Ministry is a published by the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (AGTS)
• The European Research Network on Global Pentecostalism (GloPent) is an initiative by three leading European Universities in Pentecostal studies networking academic research on Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.
• Hollenweger Center for the interdisciplinary study of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements at the Free University of Amsterdam
• Cyberjournal for Pentecostal Charismatic Research
• Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (Assemblies of God archives), one of the largest collections of materials documenting the global Pentecostal movement; website contains free research tools, including over 200,000 digitized pages of periodicals and online catalog with over 55,000 entries.
• Pentecostalism
• Lecture on "Pentecostalism"
• Map showing Percentage of Pentecostal Population in USA by county from Valparaiso University
• Apostolic Herald Online newsletter sharing Pentecostal and Apostolic concepts written primarily by pentecostal authors.
• Pentecostal Conference of the North American Keralites
• Australasian Pentecostal Studies journal
• Pew Religious Forum Pentecostal Hub
• Some statistic

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